Emirates 19-20 FA Cup: 5th round draws announced

Most of the teams in the top half of the Top half of the English Premier League have managed to qualify for the 5th round of the 2019-20 FA Cup. While Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester City & Chelsea from the Top four have all gone through, teams like Everton and Wolverhampton have fallen by the wayside. Tottenham Hotspur progressed in the next phase by way of a thrilling 3-2 win over Southampton after the 1st leg had ended in a 1-1 stalemate. The Saints were unlucky to have lost the Tottenham stadium game after having put the hosts under pressure for most of the match. Spurs first goal was fortuitous as Tanguy Ndombele’s shot deflected off visiting defender Jack Stephens to completely wrong-foot goalkeeper Angus Gunn for an own goal in the 12th minute of play. Shane Long equalized in the 34th minute after Nathan Redmond’s effort had been parried by Hugo Lloris. Danny Ings put the visitors in the lead in the 72nd minute, curling a shot past Lloris. Lucas Moura equalized for the Spurs with a strike from 18 yards to make it 2-2. Jose Mourinho’s men got the winner just 3 minutes before the final whistle when Southampton goalkeeper Angus Gunn fouled Son Heung-min and a penalty was awarded which the Korean forward converted. Spurs now face Premier League bottom-scrapers Norwich City against who they have scores of 2-2 and 2-1 from their two encounters in the on-going PL season.

City now face Championship/second-tier club Sheffield Wednesday in the 5th round. Chelsea and Liverpool face each other in probably the most contested game of the 5th round. While Chelsea beat Hull City 1-0 to advance into the next stage of the knock-out tournament, a below-full strength Liverpool managed to shrug off third tier side Shrewsbury Town 3-2 on aggregate over two legs having drawn the first one 2-2.

Manchester United stormed into the 5th round beating Tranmere Rovers 6-0 with all six goals coming from different individuals – Maguire, Dalot, Lingard, Jones, Martial and Greenwood. United now face second-tier Derby County which interestingly has one of Manchester United’s icons playing for them.

34-year old Wayne Rooney, who joined Championship club Derby as a player-coach in January, is incidentally United’s and England’s all-time record goal-scorer.

The 5th round fixtures are as follows:

Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester City

Reading v Sheffield United

Chelsea v Liverpool

West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United

Leicester City v Birmingham City

Derby County v Manchester United

Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich CityPortsmouth v Arsenal

All 8 games will be played across three midweek nights from 3rd March to 5th March, with no replays. In event of the ties finishing level after 90 minutes of normal playing time, there will be 30 minutes of extra time and if necessary, penalties to decide a winner.